Amphiura Forbes, 1843

Alitto, Renata A. S., Bueno, Maristela L., Guilherme, Pablo D. B., Domenico, Maikon Di, Christensen, Ana Beardsley & Borges, Michela, 2018, Shallow-water brittle stars (Echinodermata: Ophiuroidea) from Araçá Bay (Southeastern Brazil), with spatial distribution considerations, Zootaxa 4405 (1), pp. 1-66 : 26

Genus Amphiura Forbes, 1843

Type taxon. Amphiura chiajei Forbes, 1843 .

Diagnosis. Disc with scales dorsally and ventrally. Radial shields as long as wide, completely separate or united distally. Two lateral oral papillae, buccal scale higher up on the jaw. None, one or two tentacle scales. Three to seven arm spines ( Forbes 1843; Verrill 1899a; Thomas 1962; Tommasi 1970; Albuquerque 1986).

Comments. Amphiura has undergone several taxonomic revisions since its original description by Forbes (1843). The most currently accepted classification split the group into four genera: Amphiura , Amphipholis , Amphioplus , and Amphiodia ( Verrill 1899a) . However, due to the large number of species, several authors have proposed the further splitting into four subgenera ( Stöhr et al. 2016): Amphiura Forbes, 1843 , Fellaria A. M. Clark, 1970 , Ophiopeltis Dürben & Koren, 1846 , and Ophionema Lütken, 1869 . Amphiura comprises 208 species, 18 of which are recorded from Brazil ( Barboza & Borges 2012): A. algida Koehler, 1911 , A. (Amphiura) callida Albuquerque, Campos-Creasey & Guille, 2011 , A. (Amphiura) complanata Ljungman, 1867 , A. crassipes Ljungman, 1867 , A. deichmani Tommasi, 1965 , A. fibulata Koehler, 1913 , A. flexuosa ( Ljungman, 1867) , A. (Ophionema) intricata ( Lütken, 1859) , A. iraciae Tommasi & Oliveira, 1976 , A. joubini Koehler, 1912 , A. kinbergi Ljungman, 1872 , A. latispina Ljungman, 1867 , A. muelleri Marktanner-Turneretscher, 1887 , A. palmeri Ljungman, 1872 , A. princeps Koehler, 1907 , A. rosae Tommasi & Oliveira, 1976 , A. semiermis Lütken, 1869 and A. stimpsoni Lütken, 1859 .